Air Force Launches SpaceWERX Innovation Hub
"We will begin designing future 'Prime' programs focused on space, autonomy, energy, gaming, supersonics and microelectronics," Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said.
"We will begin designing future 'Prime' programs focused on space, autonomy, energy, gaming, supersonics and microelectronics," Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett said.
"We're learning from industry as we go," said Eileene Vidrine, Air Force chief data officer.
"I think we need something like a PEO that is wholly focused on commercial enterprise," says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.
The near-term focus is on rebuilding hurricane-ravaged Tyndall AFB, but the long-term goal is to build more resilient bases around the world -- including in war zones.
"In space, particularly, we've got to have a model that is very different than the one we used the last century," Roper summed up. "We're going to need to evaluate companies that have the potential to commercialize successfully as a delineator of who we partner with."
The real challenge for small, innovative companies, says Anduril's Chris Brose said, is "the scaling challenge, and the bridge across the valley of death."
The Air Force's new investment strategy is designed to "catalyze the commercial market by bringing our military market to bear," says Roper.
The new effort focuses on space situational awareness, space data analytics, space communication, artificial intelligence (AI) and satellite servicing.
"It's not enough to develop and procure systems anymore. We've got to get in the business of of buying ideas and generating ideas," says Air Force acquisition czar Will Roper.
BOSTON: “It’s like running through a briar patch naked,” Will Roper said of trying to bring start-up companies into the service’s contracting model to keep apace of commercial innovation. “You have to be willing to bleed a little bit,” Roper, the Air Force’s top acquisition official told me in an interview last Thursday, after watching 10 newborn […]